


a mother's steady hand

by ryukogo



Series: memories in mosaic [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Gabriel Salt, Gabriel is a bitch, Gen, Good Parent Tomoe Tsurugi, Hawk Moth is Gabriel Agreste, Lila Rossi Bashing, Lila Rossi Lies, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Lila salt, Tomoe is a boss ass bitch who won't take gabriel and lila's bullshit about her daughter sitting down, lila anon duplicate comment deleted count: 20, tomoe sugar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:48:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23737840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryukogo/pseuds/ryukogo
Summary: Tomoe is many things. Strong, unflinching, unyielding. She is powerful, she is graceful.Most of all, she is a mother. And a mother will do what she deems best for her children.---The conversation that we do not see in CH31 of 'nino lahiffe and the road to forgiveness', between Tomoe and Gabriel.
Series: memories in mosaic [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1704493
Comments: 48
Kudos: 477





	a mother's steady hand

**Author's Note:**

> i felt the need to try and write something tomoe-centric

Tomoe Tsurugi is strong.

With her only daughter Kagami under her tutelage and her father’s teachings in her head and her heart, she is a force to be reckoned with. Her lack of eyesight did nothing to stop her from being an excellent fencer and a very capable businesswoman - not when her voice was as strong as the elephant and as steady as the oak. Where her eyes were weak, everything else was strong.

Her voice, her grip, her convictions. Her morals, her heart, her mind.

As much as the world claimed to favor the disabled and provide them opportunities to be on par with the abled, Tomoe could see past those lies with eyes unclouded by the superficial. Empty promises of a world that only saw her for what she could not do.

_( “No matter how many competitions they lose to you, all they will see is the blind in a place where she doesn’t belong,” Her father had once told her, after she’d come home with an aching heart and an aching body. “No matter what you do, the world is a cruel and harsh place. It’s hard enough to be a woman in this world, but to be blind as well… the world will show you no mercy, Tomoe.”_

_“Father?”_

_“If the world does not show you mercy… show it no mercy as well,” His hands grip her shoulders firmly. “No matter what you do, you must_ **_never_ ** _let the world tear you down. It will strike at you like lightning, so be as swift as lightning to avoid it. Be as powerful as the flood - show no mercy. And be as elusive as the wind - and let their strikes forever miss.”_

_“...”_

_“Promise me, Tomoe. Promise me you will be strong. For father.” )_

Tomoe Tsurugi is strong.

For her father, she will be strong. For her daughter, she will be strong.

In a world so cruel, a bird with folded wings can only fight to survive.

* * *

Tomoe is unflinching.

Her trip to the Agreste mansion is uneventful for the most part. She hears of the news of an akuma attack nearby, but it does little to deviate Tatsu from its path to the mansion as it stops at the gate, awaiting entry. Her fingers drum against her _shinai_ rhythmically as she waits for the gates to open, but it’s a good few minutes before they do, allowing Tatsu to continue forward and pause at the steps to the house.

The door opens automatically, allowing Tomoe to step out as she picks up on the sounds of heels clicking against stone. Nathalie, if she had to guess, though the woman’s steps are unsteadier than normal, as though she were either drunk or dizzy. Tomoe wisely decides it’s most likely the latter - Nathalie had never seemed like the type to drink, either way.

“Ms. Tsurugi,” Nathalie greets, and her voice is a dead giveaway for her current state. She’s ill, but in a way that was still able to be hidden. Tomoe wonders why. “I apologize for the delay in receiving you. Mr. Agreste was in a very important call and required my services.”

Tomoe frowns. “That man works you too hard.”

“It’s fine, really,” Tomoe picks up on the slightest hint of protectiveness, in defense of her employer - and affection carefully hidden. It’s not as well hidden as Nathalie thinks it is, but Tomoe doesn’t call her out on it. She lets Nathalie’s movements and footsteps mark her path as she walks up the stairs diligently, hearing the sound of the door shutting behind her.

She recognizes Gabriel’s footfalls. They’re distinct compared to Nathalie’s - where Nathalie’s is centered on two points, heel and ball, Gabriel’s is heavier and more evenly spread out with each step. His breathing too is more even compared to Nathalie’s, but it was to be expected: Nathalie was ill, no matter how much she tried to hide it.

“Tsurugi-san,” Gabriel greets cordially. “You’re here for the meeting.”

“The meeting can wait,” Tomoe taps her _shinai_ against the cold tiles of the Agreste mansion. “Where is your alleged ‘source’, Gabriel? Where is the source that claims these lies against my daughter?”

Gabriel’s voice is clipped as he responds. “Miss Rossi has yet to arrive, given that the school day has not yet ended. She will be coming soon. We will discuss what needs to be discussed in my office.”

“I will not speak to you until I hear the lies from her mouth herself,” Tomoe states. She can feel the tension in the air, and grimly smiles to herself. _Good. Let him_ **_writhe_ ** _in my silence._

**_The world is cruel, my Tomoe. Your mother says that an eye for an eye makes the world go blind, but they can’t take from you what you don’t have._ **

“Very well,” Gabriel says through gritted teeth. Tomoe takes small pleasure in the fact that she’s ruffled his feathers. “At least take a seat while waiting.”

* * *

Tomoe is blind.

From birth her eyesight had already been poor, but only after she had had Kagami had her eyesight truly deteriorated into nothing. From birth she’d been training herself for the eventual day she would permanently lose her eyesight, and with her family’s assistance she had managed to make it through life even without one of what was considered the most essential senses of the human body.

Her eyes could not see - but she didn’t need her eyes to know that the girl Gabriel had brought before her was nothing but a liar.

Tomoe had encountered her kind before, many a time. Both father and mother had warned her of girls and boys with smiles like savages and fingers like claws, words like sweet honey that promised so much - but bore nothing but air. She was lucky, she’d been told, that she had the opportunity to see beyond the face - because most people never saw beyond the apple’s skin, and never saw its rotten core.

“Are you done?” She asks, after the girl’s - Lila, was it? - tirade. Her tone is unaffected, bored even.

She feels Lila tense. “I-”

“To paraphrase,” Tomoe begins, rising from her provided seat to her full height. She can sense that the girl is right in front of her, and Gabriel a few feet behind her, and uses this to her advantage. She smacks the end of her _shinai_ against the floor, and feels Lila jump. “You, Gabriel’s newest model, came to him and told him that my daughter is a slut.” Lila flinches at the word. “Is that it? You are calling my Kagami a slut?”

Lila violently shakes her head. “I-I didn’t say anything at all like that-!”

“Let me repeat the summary then, more carefully and more _detailed_ this time,” Tomoe says sharply. Smack. Lila flinches again. What a miserable, pitiful creature. _This_ was Gabriel’s new muse? _Nothing like Emilie at all._ “You went to Gabriel Agreste, your employer, and claimed that Kagami Tsurugi has been seen cavorting with males from your class. You went to Gabriel Agreste, and cried wolf about the girl that his son, Adrien Agreste, was arranged to marry, because you wanted Adrien for yourself but could not find the means to secure him without his own father’s interference.”

Gabriel stiffens at the last part, which makes Tomoe wonder. Did he truly know about Lila’s own personal, selfish gains? Surely he did. Surely not even _Gabriel_ was blind to the fact that his muse was yet another one of the many who desired his son.

Or maybe he was. Tomoe wouldn’t put it against him - the Gabriel in their childhood perhaps would have noticed, but the Gabriel she knew now... 

Tomoe’s voice is eerily calm. “You do not like Kagami.”

“I-I do like Kagami! We’re friends!” Lila protests.

Tomoe’s smile turns _vicious._ “Liar. You just slandered her name in front of the man who was to be her father-in-law in the future. Is this what you believe is friendship, Gabriel?” She turns to the man. “Is this the sort of people you allow Adrien to interact with on a daily basis? Absolutely _shameful_.”

“I decide what’s best for Adrien-” Gabriel begins, only to be cut off by Tomoe.

“If this is what you call the _best,_ then you’re slipping, Gabriel. Emilie would have been _ashamed_ of you, listening to a teenage girl accusing another of something so _disgraceful_ over a childish _crush_.”

Gabriel’s body language shifts into that of an aggressive one. Tomoe smirks as he growls, “Don’t you _dare_ say her name.”

“Emilie?” Lila asks, bewildered. She goes ignored.

Tomoe cracks her neck, loosening it up before giving Gabriel an acidic scowl, smacking her _shinai_ against the chair she had been sitting on. Lila flinches again. “You fear her name because you fear that I’m right. You _know_ I speak the truth - that Emilie would have been _ashamed_ of the kind of riffraff you bring into your house to influence your son.”

“Lila was handpicked to inform me of who were terrible influences on my son-”

“Oh, and I suppose _Kagami_ is a terrible influence on Adrien, Gabriel? Why arrange a marriage between them with me, then?” Tomoe _knows_ she’s won when she senses Gabriel’s hackles rising like a cat’s. “You pompous, ego-bloated, unintelligent _baboon._ ”

“You do not _speak_ to me in this way in my house, Tsurugi!”

“And _you_ do not speak about my daughter in such a way, _Agreste,_ ” Tomoe answers icily. She points her _shinai_ at Lila’s neck, making the girl squeak. “And _you._ Do not ever speak to me again, do not ever _look_ at me again, and do not ever _find_ yourself in my presence unless you’d _like_ for me to ruin your name until your dying breath. Do not _look_ at my daughter, do not _touch_ my daughter, and do not _ever_ speak your lies about her ever. Again. Do you understand?”

Lila squeaks in fear.

Tomoe calls out, “Nathalie Sancoeur. Where are the marriage documents?”

“In their proper file case, Ms. Tsurugi-”

“Tear them up.”

 _That_ got everyone in the room to freeze. Gabriel’s voice is _icy._ “ _What?”_

“You heard me, _Agreste,_ ” Tomoe says. “There are only two copies of the document - one with you, one with me. And since I am here at your house and present for it, I dissolve our agreement as the guardian of Kagami Tsurugi. The marriage contract is null and void.”

“I won’t allow it,” Gabriel growls.

Tomoe sniffs. “Too bad. I do. Nathalie, if you won’t do it, I’ll do it myself. Where is it?”

“Nathalie, if you hand her those files-”

“I have much of a right to those files as you do, Gabriel,” Tomoe says as Nathalie hesitantly hands her the papers. She counts them - _one two three four sheets, all here, her seal, her signature, Gabriel’s… all there -_ before raising the edge to her mouth.

“If you _rip_ that contract, your family is _forbidden_ from stepping foot on these grounds _again,”_ Gabriel hisses.

Tomoe lowers the papers slightly, and waits for Gabriel to relax. And then she says, “Not much of a loss if this is the kind of environment you are breeding for your son whose kindness exceeds yours and Emilie’s combined.”

She tears the contracts in half. Then in fourths, eighths, sixteenths…

It’s all shreds.

“Kagami Tsurugi is no longer arranged to marry Adrien Agreste,” Tomoe declares, taking a poisonous delight in sensing Gabriel’s carefully contained fury bursting at the seams. “Both of them are free to marry as they choose in the future - and if I know Adrien, he would _never_ choose someone like _you,”_ She points at Lila again. “When he’s got more intelligence in a single braincell than Gabriel has in his entire body.”

Gabriel draws back. He is… oddly cool and composed. Tomoe doesn’t like that. “Very well. You have made your choice, Tomoe Tsurugi. Kagami is forbidden from interacting with Adrien _ever_ again outside of school matters, and your family is banned from the grounds of the Agreste mansion for as long as I reside in this house as the patriarch.”

“And with any luck, it won’t be for very long,” Tomoe scoffs, spinning on her heel and making her way back outside. Nathalie follows only a moment later, harried as she opens the door for her. She pauses. “Nathalie. I apologize for my stint of hotheadedness in there. If Gabriel does _anything_ to punish you for what I made you do today… come find me.”

The offer to house Nathalie goes unsaid, but they both know what she means anyway.

“Thank you, Ms. Tsurugi…” Nathalie says softly. “But… I cannot leave him. Not like this.”

For some reason, Tomoe gets the feeling she’s not just talking about Gabriel this time.

“The offer will always stand,” Tomoe reaffirms, and she shuts the door. Once she’s certain that Nathalie is no longer able to see her, she lets her anger _burn_ in her chest. “Tatsu. Set course for home.”

_“At your service, Ms. Tsurugi.”_

She sits there for a while. She sits there for a long, long while, letting her anger fester and burn inside her chest. Anger that Gabriel had the _gall_ to accuse Kagami of such, anger that he’d sunken so _low_ as to believe in the words of a common _talespinner_ , a simple teenage girl who knew nothing but false promises and pretty words. Anger that she’d been so _volatile_ in the mansion…

But she felt no regret.

She’d defended Kagami. Gabriel would not be able to do anything to ruin her, or her family - if the press asked for why they were no longer partners, she would have the receipts. She had the recordings. She was never unprepared. If Gabriel wanted to try and trap his son in the cursed golden cage he’d constructed, then so be it. She would not sentence Kagami to the same thing he was doing.

If she were to hold Kagami in a cage, it would only be to protect her when she couldn’t protect herself.

Something flutters against her chest, against her _shinai,_ against her glasses, searching. It stops at the single shred of paper that had stuck to her clothing, and something whispers in the back of her skull soon after.

**_“Torikago.”_ **

Bird cage. How unoriginal.

**_“Your beloved daughter’s honor was jeopardized by a man who was getting way over his head and a fox who can’t be trusted anywhere near the henhouse. If you’re not careful, more people like them will come for your little bird and eat her alive. I’m giving you the power to-”_ **

Tomoe’s breath stops for a moment.

**_“Torikago?”_ **

That voice… _no…_

**_“Torikago, are you listening?”_ **

“No, Hawkmoth,” Tomoe answers, pulling at the paper the akuma had gone into. It’s a struggle, an agonizing one, but Tomoe is strong. Tomoe is unyielding. Tomoe was a **mother** . “I am _not_ listening to you - and rest assured, I will never be listening to you again. I thought I made that _clear_ today when I left your house, did I _not?”_

Hawkmoth goes silent.

Before she can tear up the paper, the whispering in the back of her head disappears, and she feels a butterfly flutter around Tatsu frantically seeking escape from its cage.

She opens a window, and lets it fly free.

Perhaps it really was about time she let Kagami do that as well.


End file.
